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Topic: Spring is Around the cornor (Read 3560 times)

You can tell we are going to have an early spring when the Turkeys start laying in the middle of Jan. I now have over the last 2 days the first Royal palm turkey eggs. I am so excited it has been a long time coming. I have been seeing signs of it being an early spring for a few weeks now. Bees out flying more and more. Trees a budding. Grape vines budding. My lemon and orange trees blooming again. It is going to be an early spring. NOw lets all hope that we dont have a very hot summer. yeaaa

Angi, ooooh, now isn't that cool? That is beautiful that spring is coming on your way, this time of year is so exciting with all things new and clean, the air, the land, the trees, fresh new leaves, fresh new grass. This is another one of the loves of my life too, spring, that I know will certainly lead to the incredibly beautiful, dog days of summer. Have a wonderful day, it is so nice to hear of the beauties that are occurring in other places, as we leave wintertime hibernation behind. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

angi, my grandkids were up from lemoore last month. no matter how high i cranked the heat, they were cold. i finally made them put on more clothes. it was either that, or i was going to have to start stripping.....

glad you have signs of spring, but we are long from it. :-(

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.....The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved.....

AND IT IS ABOUT TIME, TOO!!! :-PI'm trying to ice over a new skating rink, and I'm really looking forward to it. All this crappy warm weather has been a real wet blanket for me!! I've been out freezing my arse off spraying water onto my rink into the wee hours of the night.

I'm looking forward to Saturday when we are supposed to get down to single digits!!

I think spring might be early here as well. Although still cold, the maple buds are begining to swell quickly, my heather is blooming, crocuses are begining to show a little green above the ground and geese flying north too. Lots of swelling buds even w/ some snow last evening. Bees out today and only 44F. I love the first breath of warm breezes in the early spring. You can smell the warmth from the ground and on the breeze. Love the change of seasons!

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"The more complex the Mind, the Greater the need for the simplicity of Play".

Well here to now it is cold and rainy but then after these sets of sotrms it is supposed to clear back up and be in the 50s and 60 during the day. I now have 6 turkey eggs in the incubator with 2 1/2 doz Cuckoo Maran eggs and almost 2 1/2 doz Dark COrnish eggs.

Angi, you will be pleased to hear that I am in the process (almost) of getting ready to incubate a whole wack of eggs.

I am off tomorrow to see a lady nearby (I got her name from the feed store). She raises heritage turkeys and I am going to get a hen or two for Richard. She has:

SlatesBronze HeritageBourbon RedRoyal Palm

Beltsville

She also has Pilgrim geese

And Buff Orpington

I told her that I wanted to get some Buff Orpingtons. I told her that I had quite a nice incubator (and I am studying like crazy about incubating and the care after incubating, I will probably lean on you for more information, too). She said that if I was willing to hatch out a bunch of Buffs for her that she would supply me with as many eggs as I wanted. This includes turkeys, geese, Buffs, whatever.

When I go and see her tomorrow, I will decide what I am going to incubate. And I am also going to be incubating some of my own stock too. We may have a good thing going here.

I have Antonio, he is the Rhode Island Red rooster that has taken over, what I will call, the "new" chickens. These include:

2 black Australorpe hens4 Barred Rock hens1 white Rock (I am thinking, unless it is a white leghorn)1 blue legged white chicken (my Sister still thinks it is a rooster, but I don't think so, her name is Lucy, you will remember her)1 specialty light grey hen (no clue, my Cousin gave her to me)1 Araucana hen5 of what I would think are the brown Sex-Sal-Links hens1 golden coloured hen

So, you can see I have quite a mitch match in the new chicken yard.

The "old" chicken yard is the brown Sex-Sal-Links, nothing great, but lovely and friendly birds. That is Roquefort's (our white rooster) heiram. Now and then he traverses to Antonios following and has a great time there. So there will be mix ups with some breeding, but I am not into it for monetary gain, just fun, so that is OK.

I know when Antonio (RIR) breeds with the 4 Barred Rocks, the progeny is called Red Rock cross. They are excellent dual purpose birds, that is good.

When Antonio (RIR) breeds with the others (I have been studying about the colour gene thing too, but it is very confusing and haven't quite got the hang of it, or even close, yet) I have no clue what will come of the progeny.

What I think will make an interesting breeding is the offspring of Antonio (RIR) with the Black Australorpe. I think that it would make a pretty big dual purpose bird. So these are my plans to have some fun with the incubator and raise a bunch of chickens, and maybe some turkeys too. This woman also wanted to give me turkey eggs. I have so much to learn, but that is OK, I am a lover of the learning.

I have brought the incubator into the kitchen downstairs (we have a basement suite that we use for my Husband's office and my "room" for wine making and honey harvesting). It will be warm there and I can make a hatching area in there for the babies. They will be well protected and under my bird's eye care (the kids will love it too having the little babies in the house). Kids and young critters just seem to go hand in hand. You should have been my youngest Grandson and my youngest Nephew here the other day dipping their fingers into the honey comb when I was cutting it off the foundation, what a blast!!!! Couldn't get their fingers out of there!!! Have a wonderful and greatest of days. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

Slates= Considered Med breed. I am looking for these to cross with the royal palms to make a blue royal palm. Slates are considered a shade of Blue. Hince Blue slates. They come in blue, black and splash which is a shade of gray with black felcks. Very very pritty birds.

Bronze Heritage= Considered large breed. One of the orig heriatge turkeys. Looks the closest to the wilds. They have used these to cross to make Broad Breasted Bronzes. A very nice bird as well

Bourbon Red= One of the best heritage breeds. They are very calm and gentle and are bigger then the royal palms. considered Med breed. Are also very good mothers.

Royal Palm= Considered a med breed Is what mine are you saw a picture of at the fair. Not big as far as eating goes but there is a bunch of meat on there they have what is called an inverted v breast so they dont have as much breast meat. They are more of Eye Candy to some people. They are real show stoppers for sure. Mine are spoiled rotten lmao.

Beltsville = considered extra small. Is a small white turkey one of the smallest other then the white midget.

Be careful as heritage turkeys especially turkeys will be able to fly. The toms except for the extra smalls and midget will not be able to fly when fully mature. If they happen to getup on the roof and they jump down they can break something and hurt them selfs. Turkeys like to roost up high. So they will pick trees or the roof of your house or anything else high. How to fix this is to clip the flight feathers on one wing. DONT DO BOTH WINGS as this will give them enough leverage and balance to be able to get to where they want to go. Doing one wing will not give them balance. Yes they will be able to get a few feet up but not as bad as being full flight. They will still be able to get away from preditors.

Thomashton, that is too bad there are no Pilgrim breeds around for you.

Angi, thank you for the wealth of information. I have intention to visit this woman today and will probably be getting a Bourdon Red hen and maybe a Blue Slate (I think she called her slates blue).

We'll see what is up when I get there. Have an awesome and wonderful day. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

So how did it go. I would get you a hen for your Richard out of her Standard Heritage Bronzes. As your Richard is a Bronze Tom. I love the Blue Slates. And Yes slates are Blue which is actually a shade of gray. I am going to get eggs this spring from them to make blue palms. Did you ever get my pm for the lady looking for someone in Canada to swap eggs with? There is another lady on that group also looking for some one up there to swap with.

So how did it go. I would get you a hen for your Richard out of her Standard Heritage Bronzes. As your Richard is a Bronze Tom. I love the Blue Slates. And Yes slates are Blue which is actually a shade of gray. I am going to get eggs this spring from them to make blue palms. Did you ever get my pm for the lady looking for someone in Canada to swap eggs with? There is another lady on that group also looking for some one up there to swap with.

Angi

Angi, rats, I didn't get a chance to go and see her yesterday, they are now calling for snow, so I don't know when I will get there. Time will tell that tale. What about getting a Bourbon Red for Richard? What would the offpsring of theirs be like, or should I stick to the bronze species, like him only? Yes I got your PM about the Canada lady, but I don't have enough eggs of any type right now. But I have kept the name, thank you so much. I may contact her anyways just to see what she is up to. Have an awesome day, Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold. The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee. Robert Service

She might sale as well. MOst that swap sale there eggs and ship. all it takes is to ask. She might also know of hatcherys up there in your neck of the woods. I will find the other ladys info and forward it to you.